I was taking inventory of my supplies over the holiday and found I have just enough of the High Mountain original flavor Snack Stick mix for a 5 pound batch. So I figured this would be a good new years eve project.
Started with 5 pounds of about 78% lean beef (mixture of 75% and 80%). Added the High Mountain cure and spice mix. I did alter the spices by adding a little lightly ground crushed red pepper flakes for a tiny bit of kick. I also added some finely cubed medium cheddar cheese and ECA for that classic snack stick twang.
Mixed the night before to let the flavors blend. I added the cheese and ECA just before stuffing today. Stuffed into the 21mm casings that came with the High Mountain kit. Since I added cheese I ended up with more than the usual 5 pounds of mix so I ran out of casings. Pulled out some 17mm casings I bought by mistake (thought they were 19mm at the time). Also I'm using the small LEM stuffing tube which seemed to require more pressure on the stuffer crank handle than usual. I attribute this to the cheese cubes. I ended up rolling the final meat cheese mix into hand rolled sticks.
Ran them with no smoke at 130* for about 2 hours to dry and set the casings. Then 2 hours of smoke at 140*. I used a blend of bourbon barrel oak and pitmaster's choice. Cranked to 150* with no smoke for 2 more hours then to 165 to finish at 152* internal.
Here they are on the smoker at the start. I'm running the 18.5" WSM with the e-WSM mod and the element on a Auber PID controller.
Here they are after I pulled the pellet tray after 2 hours of smoke. Notice the color change is really evident in the uncased hand rolled sticks. Both photos are under the same light.
Just waiting on the final temp and I'll pull them. Will post the final photos later.
